|
Each
year as part of the Sunday Memorial Service at the Penn Colony of
Nebraska Reunion, (always second weekend in August) a descendant of a
pioneering family is asked to give a talk, as a memorial to the memory of
those who came out west and
endured the hard times to build a community in Nebraska. This is a
copy of the 2009 moment written and given by Mrs. Marilyn Thacker Ogle an
entitled: “Coming Home”.
After coming to Nebraska in 1870, Jacob G. Heim began to make
arrangements to sell his farm in Pennsylvania
and move his family west to Nebraska. It took four years, but finally
the farm was sold and a public sale was held to dispose of the personal
belongings he and Regina had accumulated, Jacob and Regina moved their
family to the farm where Alan
Heim now resides and began establishing a home for their children, Johnathan, Sam, Joseph, Rebecca, Sophia, Maggie,
Sarah Salomon, and Mary.
Salomon and Mary died of membranous croup the first winter and
Jacob felt it was punishment from God for coming west and wanted to go
back east again, but Regina
said it would not bring their children back and their money was all in
the land and the house so they stayed. Leaving their graves of her two
children in the lonesome prairie was more than she could consider, so
this mother made the decision that would determine the future for our Pennsylvania
Colony.
For
several years to follow, families continued to relocate to Nebraska from Pennsylvania
and in November 1884, Mrs. Catherine Ulmer, widow of Martin Ulmer, moved
with her children, Israel,
Sarah and Martin D. to Nebraska, another
son, Emanuel had already re-located to Nebraska. These first families were greeted
by raw, treeless prairie, so they soon began planting trees to make the
prairie more comfortable during the hot summers and for the lumber and
wood they would need to heat their homes in the harsh Nebraska winters.
Broadview Farm became home to
Catherine Ulmer and her children and later was the home where Martin D.
Ulmer and his bride Sophia Heim would raise their children. Three
children were born to this union:
Erma (Berton Williamson), Mildred (Elmer
Thacker) and Wallace (who died at one year of age). All of the children were born in
this home and the daughters were married here.
Martin and SophiaMartin and Sophia maintained a beautiful
farmstead and planted numerous trees and provided summer shade and a warm
and comforting winter landscape for their young family to enjoy.
|
|
|
|
Since I
grew up in this same house along with my brother, Neil, coming home has
always meant coming home to this farmstead. As a child, it meant endless hours
of playing in the big yard, under the evergreen trees. Playmates included “corner
cousins” Bob Williamson and his sister Shirley (Haner)
and Dennis and Terry Thacker (these two were almost like brothers since
our Dads were brothers and our Moms were first cousins.) Sundays and holidays were always
filled with family and wonderful food....I can smell the stuffing just
thinking about it! Uncle Berton used to hitch up his team of horses and take
us for rides in the sleigh in the winter, much to our delight...and we
spent endless hours sledding on the road in front of our house. Summer was great, too...there were
all the baby kittens to find in the hay mow in the barn, mud pies to make
and picnics in the yard. One
more of my favorite times was coming home from Grand Avenue
and smelling the wood smoke coming from the chimney...it guaranteed a
nice warm house and being greeted by the smell of homemade bread,
cinnamon rolls or cookies....WOW!
Of course we all grow up and
eventually leave home to marry...I had shared with my brother, Neil, that
I would NEVER marry a farmer (a comment that he would remind me of). My high school sweetheart, Dick
Ogle, and I were married in this church by Rev. Raymond Boyer. He was the grandfather of Jason
Thacker, who just happens to be delivering our sermon this morning. We lived in Auburn
while he finished college...then moved to Gresham, Ne. where he taught
Industrial Arts (see no farmer) Then Dick decided to take a
teaching position in Auburn
(no, he couldn't be thinking about coming home to farm????)! Then out of no where he gets this
hair brained idea to move back to Dawson
and farm. Eventually coming
home meant returning to Broadview Farm where we raised our children and
where they bring their spouses, and grandchildren home. It has been a special privilege to
come home to the farmstead of Martin and Sophia. The last of the evergreens left us
a few years ago, but the hoot owl who used to
serenade us from it has moved to the evergreen grove across the corner at
Dennis and Robin Thacker's and the evergreen tree patch whisper just as
Grandpa Martin's did. We
truly have come home!
|